Method and System for Electronic Document Version Tracking and Comparison

Abstract

A computer system adapted to use a variety of strategies to automatically build and maintain version trees for document files that are versions of a document, and display such information to users in order that users comprehend the evolution and history of the document.

What is claimed: 
     
         1 . A computer system for managing versions of a document comprised of at least one file representing at least one corresponding version of the document comprising:
 a module comprised of logic adapted generate a document hierarchy data structure representing a revision history of the document by use of data embodying inference rules that are applied to metadata corresponding to the at least one files; and   a computer memory that stores the the generated hierarchical data structure representing the document revision hierarchy.   
     
     
         2 . A process executed by a computer system on a plurality of document data files each representing a corresponding different version of a document, said computer system further comprised of a memory storing a data structure encoding the version hierarchy of the document comprising:
 detecting a new file;   obtaining at least one metadata value describing one corresponding characteristic of the new file, said metadata comprising a modification date of the new file;   determining a repository location associated with the new file;   determining the modification date of the youngest file in the determined file directory;   determining that the modification date of the new file is later than the determined modification date of the youngest file;   in dependence on the determining that the modification date of the new file is later, creating a new data element in the data structure representing the hierarchy;   storing a pointer in a data element corresponding to the older file to the created data element associated with the younger file; and   storing in the new data element a pointer to the younger file.   
     
     
         3 . A computer system adapted by logic for organizing a plurality of related document files in a version hierarchy, said plurality of document files being different versions of a document, and said plurality of document files being stored in one or more document repositories, comprising:
 a repository scanning module adapted by logic to scan the one or more document repositories to detect either new, newly detected or newly changed document files comprising the plurality of related document files;   a database adapted by logic to store a data structure representing a version hierarchy of the document, said data structure further comprised of metadata about the document files detected by the repository scanning module;   an inference module adapted by logic to determine the proper location in the version hierarchy of each of the detected document files by use of at least one encoded inference rules.   
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 3  where the one or more repositories are comprised of: a folder on a local computer operating the scanner module, a DMS system accessed externally to the local computer, a folder directory on a remote network storage device, or a location on a remote file storing or sharing system. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 3  where the inference module is further adapted to obtain a first metadata about a first file of the plurality of document files, obtain a second metadata about a second file of the plurality of document files, apply at least one inference rule to the first and second metadata, and in dependence on the inference rule result, modify a first data element corresponding to the first file and a second data element corresponding to the second file to store a reference in the first data element designating that the second data element is a child to the first data element, said first and second data elements comprising the version hierarchy data structure. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 3  further comprising:
 a re-purposing detection module adapted by logic determine that a first document file detected by the scanning module is the same as a second document file, and that the second document file is a re-purposed document and not a new version of the document. 
 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 6  where the re-purposing detection module is further adapted to create a new data structure representing a version hierarchy for a new document, said data structure comprised of a data element corresponding to the re-purposed document. 
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 3  further comprising:
 a user interface module that is adapted by logic to display on the computer display screen data representing at least part of the version hierarchy. 
 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 5  further comprising:
 a user interface module that is adapted by logic to solicit from a user metadata about the first or second file. 
 
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 3  where the version hierarchy data structure is organized as a tree data structure. 
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 3  where the version hierarchy data structure is organized as a linked list. 
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 8  where the user interface module is further adapted to display a chronological list of events that relate to the document. 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 8  where the user interface module is further adapted to display a version tree diagram. 
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 3  further comprising:
 an office productivity module adapted to edit a document file comprising the plurality of document files; 
 a warning module adapted by logic to obtain from the office productivity module a metadata describing the document file and to interrogate the database using the obtained metadata data in order to detect the condition either that a user of the office productivity module is not editing the latest version of the document or that there are other document files corresponding to other versions of the document whose corresponding locations on version hierarchy are different branches and not lineally related. 
 
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 3  where the one or more repositories is comprised of at least one stored received email message with at least one file attachment that is one of the plurality of document files. 
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 15  where the metadata about the at least one file attachment is comprised of metadata describing the email message. 
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 16  where the metadata describing the email message is one of sender, recipient, receipt date. 
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 5  where the metadata describing the first and second document files is comprised of one of: filename, modification timestamp, latest author, originating author, detection timestamp, keywords, file system directory location. 
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 3  where the encoded inference rule is:
 If a first document file comprising the plurality of document files is associated with a file system directory path that is the same as that associated with a second file comprising the plurality of document files that is already a part of the document version hierarchy, and a first metadata corresponding to the first document file is comprised of a younger modification timestamp than a second metadata associated with the second file and the contents of the first file is different than the contents of the second file, then the first file is determined to be a new version of the document. 
 
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 3  where the inference rule is:
 If a first file is detected as an attachment to a first email message, and an email sender data for the first email message is the same as a recipient data for a second, earlier email message that included a second file as an attachment that was a version of a document, and a filename of the first file and a filename of the second file are determined by logic to have a similarity score at or above a predetermined threshold, then the first file is determined to be a new version of the document. 
 
     
     
         21 . The system of  claim 20  where the inference rule is further conditioned on the test that the first email message was received within a predetermined period of time from the transmission of the second email message. 
     
     
         22 . The system of  claim 6  where the re-purposing module is further adapted to utilize an inference rule that is:
 If the a first document file is detected by the scanner in a file system location that is different than a second document file that occupies a position in the version hierarchy and the contents of the first document file is the same as the second document file, then it is determined that first document file is a repurposed document file. 
 
     
     
         23 . The system of  claim 22  where the inference rule is further comprised of detecting the condition that a creation timestamp of the first file is greater than a predetermined period of time from the modification timestamp of the second document file. 
     
     
         24 . The system of  claim 3  where the first and second metadata are revision sequence ID values of the first and second document, respectively. 
     
     
         25 . The system of  claim 3  further adapted by logic to activate the repository scanning module whenever the system detects a modification of one of the plurality of document files and its storage as a new file. 
     
     
         26 . The system of  claim 25  further adapted by logic to create a new data element in the version hierarchy data structure in response to the detection of the modification and storage as a new file. 
     
     
         27 . The system of  claim 3  further adapted to poll an on-line repository periodically to obtain changes to metadata of files stored in the on-line repository. 
     
     
         28 . The system of  claim 3  where the document repository is one of: a file system directory, Document management system, an external on-line repository accessed using a URL, a plurality of stored email messages with at least one email message being comprised of at least one attachment comprised of at least one of the document files.